How Successful Presentation Skills Can Change the Course of Your Career

They don’t call it dressing for success for nothing. Successful presentation skills and making the right impression are crucial in the workplace. They play a key role when it comes to trying to ace that job interview, but also for being taken seriously down the track.

While it might seem superficial, effective presentation skills are amongst the most important soft skills you can have. Before you’ve even opened your mouth at an interview, your boss has probably formed their first impression.

Every job you go for will have different standards for how to dress. So, I’m not asking you to be perfect, but dressing appropriately for what you think would suit the type of job you are going for will get you a long way.

In a study of communications by Harvard, it was found that it only takes seven seconds for you to make an impression on another person. That’s right, seven seconds.

Now if you think about it, there’s not so many words that you can string together in seven seconds. 38% of your first impression comes from how you sound (what you say…) In seven seconds that is probably— ‘Hi my name is Matt…’

So that means 55% of your first impression comes down solely to your appearance and non-verbal aspects of your communication. Have I got your attention now?



Presentation skills are crucial for driving your career forward toward true success. Follow this quick checklist to make sure you demonstrate successful presentation skills and tick all of the “dress for success” boxes.

These qualities have always been valued. But as formal employment structures change, the soft skills qualities of high EQ workers are now coming into their own.

The notion of a “job for life” is rapidly being replaced by a shifting workforce with very different expectations from the employer/employee relationship. Employees expect their employers to demonstrate their social conscience and provide their staff with autonomy and respect.

But this needs a new kind of management – the kind of management that leverages the talents and skills of the high EQ manager. Respondents to a 2011 survey of more than 2600 US hiring manager by Harris Interactive found that 71% (of hiring managers) said they value emotional intelligence in an employee more than IQ.

Rosemary Haefner, of CareerBuilder said that “technical competency and intelligence are important assets for every worker, but when it’s down to you and another candidate for a promotion or new job, dynamic interpersonal skills will set you apart.” And those businesses that can genuinely deliver on these new expectations secure and keep the best talent.

This translates into bottom line benefits as well. According to Kim Morris Lee of the University of Illinois, “When senior managers had high emotional intelligence capabilities, their divisions outperformed yearly earnings goals by 20 percent.” More broadly, a 2017 Forbes

Magazine article found that “soft skills training, like communication and problem-solving, boosts productivity and retention 12 percent and delivers a 250 percent return on investment”.

Similarly, DDI Research found that “organizations demonstrated an average return on investment of $4,000 for every $1,100 spent developing soft skills”. By all accounts emotional intelligence is not just good for business but a vital part of the future company DNA.

1. Dress for the role

2. Starting the day in a more casual work setting?

3. Do your hair

4. Watch your body language around the office